Monday, November 09, 2009

What We're Reading: Stitches

David Small, award winning illustrator and children’s author has written his memoir, Stitches, in the form of graphic (illustrated) nonfiction. The memoir begins in Detroit when David was 6 years old, and we see his troubled family through his eyes. Through the years we get more glimpses of his family and their unspoken emotions and secrets that tremendously impact David’s life. At the age of 14 he woke from a “harmless” operation to find his vocal chords cut, leaving him unable to speak . The reader follows David’s life and his struggle to live with his family and his parents’ secrets. Until finally, as an adult he finally begins to unravel the secrets and to understand his parents, as well as himself.

This is the first graphic book I’ve read and I was surprised that the author could communicate the scope of his life and his feelings in so few words. A particular group of 11 pages with no words at all was so moving I was brought to tears. I’m now a convert to graphic novels and nonfiction if they continue to be as interesting and moving as this book.